Biden to follow RNC with Valley visit Friday

Vice President Joe Biden will return to the Mahoning Valley on Friday, the day after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention, according to a President Barack Obama campaign official.

Biden will travel to Lords-town for a campaign event, the official said. The official did not confirm the location of the event.

However, Biden will have a rally at the United Auto Workers Local 1714 union hall at 2121 Salt Springs Road, according to a source not affiliated with the campaign but with information about this and other presidential and vice- presidential events.

The source also correctly told the newspaper about Biden’s May 16 visit to Youngstown and Obama’s July 6 stops in Poland and Boardman before the campaign announced those events.

With last Thursday’s announcement that General Motors will invest $200 million at its Lordstown complex for tooling and equipment to build the next-generation Chevrolet Cruze, Biden is expected to talk about the investment and the automotive industry Friday.

Also, Biden’s visit will come the day after Mitt Romney’s Thursday acceptance speech as the Republican presidential nominee. That speech will close the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

The Democratic National Convention in Charlotte begins Monday. At the convention, delegates officially will select Obama as the party’s presidential nominee and Biden as its vice-presidential nominee.

The UAW event is Biden’s fifth visit to the Mahoning Valley since Obama tapped him to be his vice-presidential running mate in the 2008 campaign. Among those visits was an October 2010 rally at the Lordstown plant on behalf of then-Gov. Ted Strickland’s failed re-election bid.

Obama spoke at the auto plant in September 2009.

During Biden’s May 16 speech at M7 Technologies, an advanced-technology company in Youngstown, he aggressively criticized Romney’s economic policies, saying the Republican can’t relate to the middle class and is concerned only about the rich. About 650 people were at that speech.

David Green, UAW Local 1714 president, said Tuesday that he had no comment on Biden’s appearance at the union hall.

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